


A Rock and a Hard(y) Place

by MrsCaulfield



Category: Broadchurch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:42:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24199168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MrsCaulfield/pseuds/MrsCaulfield
Summary: An analysis on how the Jurassic Cliffs are utilised in the story arcs of Broadchurch season 1 from the perspective of an earth scientist. There are just way too many awesome earth stuffs going on in the show that might tragically be ignored by the average viewer, so anyway here's a weird info dump of my observations that absolutely nobody asked for.
Comments: 22
Kudos: 32





	1. Introduction to the West Bay Cliffs

**Author's Note:**

> IMPORTANT SPOILER WARNING: This analysis is focused on the entire season one of Broadchurch and as such, spoilers abound. However, if you would still like to read on, I have redacted the name of Danny's killer in all pertinent instances. Despite that, there may still be a few minor spoilers regarding some developments in their investigation, in case you haven't gotten to those parts yet.

**A Rock and a Hard(y) Place: Geological Review of the West Bay Jurassic Cliffs and their Relationship to the Story Arcs of Broadchurch Season One**

* * *

**Outline**  
 **  
Chapter 1 - Introduction to the West Bay Cliffs**  
Introduction  
Importance of the cliffs to the show  
 _I. The West Bay Cliffs_  
 _II. The opening scene_  
 _III. The cliffs as a crime scene  
  
_ **Chapter 2 - Opposing Forces: The Cliffs are Hard(y)**  
I. Gravity  
II. Wind  
III. Sea/Waves  
IV. Connection to Alec Hardy  
  
  
 **Chapter 3 - Struggles with Natural Hazards: The Town is its People  
** I. Flood hazards and defenses  
II. Geologic time: Why safety is only an illusion  
  
 **References  
**

* * *

**Introduction**

_I. What the heck is this?_

This is a brief analysis of the famous cliffs seen multiple times in the TV series Broadchurch from the perspective of a geologist who has seen and loves the show. We can all agree that Broadchurch is a compelling and well-crafted tale overall, but while the author was watching it was noted that there were other brilliant things deeply rooted from geological concepts and understanding of earth’s natural processes that sadly, may fly directly over the observation of the average viewer.

This semi-creditable research was done in order to convey such observations that might be new to the general viewer, and to shed some light on how earth science elements were incorporated into the character arcs and storytelling methods of the show so as to achieve a masterfully poetic effect, thereby hopefully spreading even more reasons for one to love the show.

_II. General disclaimer_

The Asian author of this barely-creditable study has never seen the Jurassic Cliffs of West Bay, Dorset in person (though should the opportunity arise, would definitely love to) and has never set foot in the UK nor any other part of Europe. All data gathered for this work was done remotely from the comforts of the author’s home. Most of the photos and geologic data were obtained from a research study conducted by Southampton University, the link to which is cited in the references below.

Make of that what you will. You have been warned.

_III. Don’t you think you’re overthinking this? I mean, they’re just ROCKS_

The Jurassic Cliffs of West Bay in Dorset are, in fact, rocks. However, it should not be a surprise to anyone that the cliffs as well as several other natural elements feature prominently in the show. The writer of Broadchurch, Chris Chibnall, came up with the show’s entire premise while out on a stroll on the aforementioned cliffs, after all. He wanted to create a _“…beautiful, epic piece where landscape was key, and the visuals were bold.”_ The official Dorset tourism site states that Chibnall wrote Broadchurch _“as a love letter to the scenery of the Jurassic Coast which used key landmarks as part of its story. The landscape informs the drama **: the cliffs, the sea, the beach** are all key elements of the story.”_

Note here that there are three natural key elements in Broadchurch: the cliffs, sea, and beach. And while this study will tackle all three of those in some form, as a geologist the author has great, scientifically valid, bias towards the cliffs, so there will be greater focus on that.

Moreover, because the author is also a diehard Alec Hardy fan, this study will make the additional claim that the cliffs in the show are not just there to serve as lovely backdrop _(though they really are overwhelmingly lovely),_ but that the cliffs represent Alec Hardy himself. This will be explained in **excruciating** detail over the next several sections. Again, you have been warned.

The Jurassic Cliffs are indeed rocks, but one can argue whether an object being a rock also gives it an intrinsically boring property.

Except there is no room for argument, as the answer is a resounding _no_.

The Earth is made of rocks all over. It is the very foundation on which we build our lives and everything else we hold dear. The real issue is that they are often underappreciated, owing to many, _many_ factors in society’s nature—but the author is getting carried away, and should be going back to the main topic now.

On the exterior, Alec Hardy is the same. A backdrop that hardly anyone appreciates, whether it be at work or within his family. But this droll appearance and lack of appreciation in no way gives him an intrinsically boring property, as all viewers come to realize after watching a few episodes.

So yes, whether you like it or not, we are talking about the bloody _rocks._

**Importance of the Cliffs to the Show**

_I.The West Bay Cliffs_

Hopefully by now, everyone reading this is aware that Broadchurch is, in fact, a fictional town. If you were not aware of that, you are now. But even if the town of Broadchurch is not real, the town that it was based on is most entirely factual. The official Broadchurch map released for the novel shows that the layout and fixture of key locations in the town of Broadchurch are very much the same as the town in which the show was based on.

The town of Broadchurch is based on West Bay, Bridport in Dorset. There are two cliffs that prominently feature on the show—the West Cliff and the East Cliff. However, as a backdrop it is usually the East Cliff that is featured as it is more picturesque. This analysis will therefore put more focus on the East Cliff.

Watching Broadchurch requires that the viewer be somewhat oriented with the environmental layout of its setting. All the talk of cliffs and waves and beaches and moving from one crime scene to another requires spatial reasoning to follow the logical leaps of the show’s detective duo. For reference, a modified map of Broadchurch is provided in Figure 1. The author has annotated in the location of the East and West Cliffs as well as two key areas featured in the show.

**Figure 1:** Modified map of Broadchurch with annotations from author

_II. The opening scene_

The series opens to a shot of a key natural element: the sea, with its waves pushing and pulling on the shingle in the dead of night. The next series of shots is composed of different locations in Broadchurch—but the most riveting, the most suspenseful, and one that will be echoed several more times in later episodes, is the shot of Daniel Latimer atop the cliffs (we later find out that it is the West Cliff, in particular).

Broadchurch season one follows a circular narrative wherein the story starts and ends in the same location. It starts with Danny on top of the cliff moments before his death and closes with the town’s memorial for Danny across the expanse of the coast, bordered by those same cliffs. Several references to the cliffs are also made all throughout the season in scattered instances.

The Broadchurch novel places further emphasis on the importance of the key natural elements to the show. The prologue’s narrative immediately draws attention to the spatial aspects of the story:

> _“One road in, one road out. Broadchurch isn’t on the way to anywhere and you don’t go there by accident._
> 
> _This sleepy coastal town is preparing to wake up for the summer season, but tonight nothing stirs. It is the crisp, clean night that follows a hot, cloudless day. There is a full moon and stars prickle the sky. Waves drag and crash as the petrol-black sea retreats from the beach. **The Jurassic cliffs above glow amber** , as though still radiating the heat they absorbed during the day…”_
> 
> _“Danny is a mile and a half away, shivering in his thin grey T-shirt and black jeans. He is sixty feet above the sea, his toes inches from the cliff edge. A sharp gust whips his hair into little needles that jab at his face. Tears chase blood down his cheeks and the wind rips the cries from his lips. Below him is a sheer drop. He is afraid to look down. He is even more afraid to look back._
> 
> _The sea breeze snakes through the town until it reaches his home and bangs the latch more insistently. Beth and Mark sleep on. The bedside clock jumps to 3.19, then stops._
> 
> _On the clifftop, Danny closes his eyes._
> 
> _One road in, one road out. Tonight, no engine fills the silence and the sweep of the coast road is unbroken by headlights. Nobody comes in to Broadchurch and nobody leaves.” –Broadchurch: The official novel, Prologue_

It is worth noting here that, as with the show’s opening sequence, the prologue narrative intertwines description of natural scenery with that of its characters. Mark and Beth Latimer were nowhere near the cliffs by the time of Danny’s death, but the sea breeze is still described as traveling from the coast to their bedroom. Nature ties this town together. One big reason why Hardy is ostracized by the people in season one is because he is an outsider—he has not lived in Broadchurch and therefore does not understand them. It is a source of frustration both for Hardy and the viewers, but when one looks at the way the story is told, there is solid foundation in it.

The town is its people. To understand the characters, one must understand the town first.

_III. The cliffs as a crime scene_

> _“Karen asked Olly to show her the sights and he’s given her a bird’s-eye view. This clifftop bench is the perfect place for her to get her bearings. Down below, it’s easy to see how the quaint, touristy part of the town near the harbour gives way to a cluster of ugly municipal buildings that lower into the sprawl of the estate. The sea stretches before them. And then of course there are the cliffs, the steep mute witnesses to Danny Latimer’s murder. They are mesmerising, with that **unearthly golden colour**. It’s an effort for Karen to draw her eyes away from them and look at Olly.” –Broadchurch: The official novel, Chapter 13 _

The cliffs assume prime significance as being the first crime scene in the show. Danny Latimer’s body was found on the shore at the bottom of the East Cliff, presumably to look as if he had suffered from a fall. This spot is marked with a red ‘X’ symbol on Figure 1. Despite that, it is later discovered that Danny did not die in this spot. The real location of his murder was in the clifftop hut near the parking area at the top of the West Cliff, marked with a red square on Figure 1. The characters themselves acknowledge the importance of the cliffs to Danny’s death—for them, looking at the cliffs will forever remind them of this tragedy.


	2. Opposing Forces: The Cliffs are Hard(y)

**Opposing Forces: The Cliffs are Hard(y)**

So far, this research has discussed the importance of the cliffs to the show’s plot and the way that the show itself references the participation of the cliffs in the death of Danny Latimer. But the cliffs serve more than just this purpose. Over the course of the season, the viewer increasingly gets to know more about DI Alec Hardy, and notably key scenes wherein a significant aspect of his character is exposed occurs somewhere with the cliffs in the background. Therefore, the author makes the claim here that the cliffs also represent Alec Hardy.

In order to expand on this, one must recall the main aspects of Hardy’s story arc. One key aspect of his personality is his struggles. Hardy struggles against several forces in the series—the complex Latimer murder case, the haunts of having botched the Sandbrook case, being ostracized by his co-workers and the residents of Broadchurch, his arrythmia, and the loss of his family. These are the forces opposing Hardy over the course of the season, which he must learn to adapt and rise up against. In this respect, he is much similar to the cliffs, which are engaged in a silent, never-ending battle against several forces as well.

The author presents here three natural forces that oppose the cliffs, which pupils of the natural sciences may know better as the _forces of weathering_.

_I._ _Gravity_

In all honesty, the author is by no means a tall person. The author is perhaps, of average height by East Asian standards, and a downright midget by Western ones. Despite this trait, the author _has_ come across several tall people over the course of their life and has read the comedy-romance manga _‘Lovely Complex’_ in its entirety and is therefore tolerably well-informed of some of their struggles.

If you, the one reading this, happen to be a tall person, it is likely you are familiar with the struggle of being constantly exposed wherever you go. When you tower over everyone else, you are quite easy to spot. Your head pokes out from a mosh pit. Teachers are more likely to call you in class. You are constantly prodded by friends and family to perform little favours that your height grants advantage to.

Just like you, the cliffs face this same problem. Cliffs are steep and tall, and therefore very noticeable. They are majestic in photos, but not invincible. It is this same trait that makes them more susceptible to the forces of weathering.

The form of weathering that a rock formation experiences due to the force of gravity is known as _mass wasting_. The more layman term for this would be _landslides_. Looking at the physical structure of the East Cliff, there are plenty of evidence showing that it is, little by little, succumbing to the force of gravity. In fact, even just looking at it from afar gives one a sense that a portion of it is slowly being dragged down, while the rest is still trying to keep itself together. This is shown in Figure 2, which the author has annotated for your convenience.

****

**Figure 2:** View of vertical and slumped structures on the East Cliff, annotated by the author

As you can see, the cliff joints are more vertical on the right-hand portion of the image, while on the left-hand side it shows evidence of slumping. Slumping is when a slope or steep rock formation rotates as it is weighed down by the force of gravity. A geologist would instantly know that the cliff did not look like that originally. It likely had that vertical form all throughout, once upon a time. But over the course of thousands, maybe millions of years, this cliff has been fighting a never-ending battle with gravity—and it is showing its battle scars.

There is also evidence of a fresh landslide scar in the middle portion, encircled in Figure 2. This cliff is not as constant as people think it is. Sometimes, there are rock falls or rockslides. This poses a hazard to the people on the beach, and one must not dwell too much below the overhangs of the cliff. Even something so tall and mighty-looking shows evidence of weariness. On the show, whenever the cliffs are chosen to feature in the shot, the visual creates a stunning effect on the viewer’s experience, even to the unawares.

****

**Figure 3:** Horizontal structures on the East Cliff, annotations done by author

_II. Wind_

The cliffs also carry signs of weariness from the forces of wind. One prominent feature of the cliffs is its horizontally bedded structures (see annotations in Figure 3), and to a trained geologist’s eye this would almost immediately register as a sign of differential weathering. The author shall try to explain this in the least boring way possible and has therefore provided a professional geologist’s sketch of the cliff in cross section, as seen in Figure 4.

One of the biggest misconceptions that people have about the Earth is that all rocks are the same. But, as the author likes to say in a class of Intro to Geology students, rocks are actually more like your friends, and as one progresses in the study of the earth sciences, you get to know them as such. Rocks have different traits, different likes and dislikes, different strengths and weaknesses. Moreover, not all rocks are created equal.

**Figure 4:** Author's geologic sketch of the East Cliff in cross-section, showing effects of differential weathering

The Jurassic cliffs are made of a sequence of sandstones—sedimentary rocks that were formed by the compaction and lithification of sand and other particles over a long period of time. It may be wild to think that these towering cliffs were once just an accumulation of sand on the sea floor, but that is indeed what they were, built up grain by grain and uplifted to their current level. Furthermore, the Law of Superposition states that in a sequence of horizontal layers in an exposure, the layers at the bottom should be older than the layers above it.

In this case, there are two alternating lithologies (this simply means rock types—now you know and may brag about it to your friends): a layer of **friable sandstone** and a layer of **carbonate-cemented sandstone**. The latter is a sandstone which has been cemented by calcite, basically just think of it as having a protective armour against the forces of weathering.

Wind does not seem like a formidable force when compared to gravity or waves, but over the course of geologic time it can change the landscape drastically. When sandstones are constantly bombarded by winds, particles of sand can get dislodged and become eroded. These particles can either be carried off by the wind to another area, or simply deposited below to form part of the beach.

When wind forces enact on the Jurassic cliffs, these two layers do not react in the same way. The carbonate-cemented sandstone layers are more resistant, while the friable sandstone layers are more easily weathered out. As a result, the cemented sandstones stick out more prominently on the surface. As gentle as the sea breeze may seem, wind forces are literally weeding out the weaker components of the Jurassic cliffs, while the rest are barely hanging on. Since they are trapped in an alternating sequence, the cemented layers need the friable layers for support, and when too much of the friable layers get eroded from the cliff surface, the cemented layers become more susceptible to gravity, which will later trigger even more rock falls.

Nothing is constant in geology. The span of a human life is but a blink. Eventually, even these cliffs will be entirely erased from the landscape much in the same manner as they were built—one grain at a time.

_III. Sea/Waves_

Gravity and wind are forces that are invisible to the human eye, but much more evident in the scenery is the battle between the cliffs against the waves constantly crashing on its shore.

Waves are some of the strongest forces of weathering. Coastlines are constantly subjected to the pushing and pulling of tides, and the force of waves crashing onto the shore. The beach at the bottom of the East Cliff is an example of this. On the show, there is power given to the waves. The killer, having committed their ghastly deed on the clifftop hut at the top of the West Cliff, carried Danny’s body onto a boat where they initially thought to dispose the body out into the sea. Due to some remorse, the culprit changed their mind and went back to shore, but the waves had drifted the boat eastwards, and the corpse was dropped at the foot of the East Cliff instead.

Forces from the sea can drastically change the coastline within a relatively short amount of time, geologically speaking. Coastlines are shaped mainly by two opposing forces in constant battle with one another: water from the sea and sediment supply.

An increase in the supply of sediment to the area (whether brought about by wind or water or something else) may cause a beach to expand and the coastline to extend. However, if the sediment supply is weaker than the force of the waves constantly eroding it, then the net effect will be a retreat of the shoreline. Alternatively, shoreline retreat may also occur even without violent wave crashing. When sea level rises due to some cause, without an increase in sediment supply, there is tendency for it to encroach onland.

As of 2018, the beach in West Bay has been eroded significantly, and the areas featured on the show are mostly impassable now to people on foot. But what do the cliffs have to do with this?

Another common misconception is that cliffs are surficial features that have been plopped onto the ground and extend towards the sky, much like how buildings are formed. This is very far from the truth as cliffs are rocks and, logically speaking, should also _be_ the component of the ground itself. When rock formations are exposed on the surface, there is _always_ a continuation underground—this extent has not been exposed to weathering forces, and therefore are truer to the rock formation’s real and original form.

When waves erode the beach, this also means that the previously buried portions of the cliffs become exposed (see Figure 5). These newly exposed layers will look different from the ones above it, but they also represent the formation’s “true” form, a more accurate representation of what it is on the inside.

The cliffs are described a couple of times in the book as being “golden” or “amber” in colour, which they are on the outside. However, borehole data shows that the Jurassic Cliffs sandstones are blue-grey in colour. What this means is that the golden colour is only a surficial feature, and if you were to pick apart a portion of the cliff and look at its unexposed parts, it will blue-grey.

**Figure 5:** Newly-exposed layers of the East Cliff sandstones as a result of beach erosion

Weathering forces and exposure to the Earth’s atmosphere can cause the minerals in rock formations to proceed with a variety of chemical reactions that change their colour. The sandstones in this case contain the mineral **pyrite** *, which changes the rock’s overall colour when it is oxidized. Pyrite is a mineral with a noticeable pale gold colour, and is often called “fool’s gold” due to the fact that it is commonly mistaken for actual gold. But unlike gold which is soft and malleable, pyrite has greater hardness and resilience and is able to retain its structured form under considerable pressure.

**Figure 6:** Samples of shots from Broadchurch s1 where the cliffs are prominently featured

_IV. Connection to Alec Hardy_

Well, that sure was a lengthy discussion, wasn’t it? The author wonders how the reader feels now at around 3400 words into a discussion about rocks, only to come to a major point just now. The author assures you that it will all be worth it. Now, having learned about the forces opposing the cliffs, can you conjecture some reasons as to how the cliffs come to symbolize Alec Hardy? The author sure hopes so, or this entire article so far will have been in vain.

Viewers are treated to a long process of getting to know Alec Hardy little by little throughout the season. At starting point, there is little known about him, much like how the people of Broadchurch barely know him. And he is not keen on being known either. However, slowly but surely, parts of him are uncovered. He gets vulnerable. He becomes truthful. It is worth noting that many of these scenes take place with the East Cliff in his background (Figure 6).

In Figure 6a, Hardy’s conversation with his doctor is the first time he is seen being open with anyone. In this scene, viewers find out how serious his condition is, and that he is not even fit to be working. He talks about reasons why he came to Broadchurch. He talks openly about how much he hates it. This important scene is one of the first major glimpses at Hardy’s weaknesses, with the stumbling blocks of the East Cliff hanging in the background.

In Figure 6b, he comes to Steve Connelly in a desperate attempt to obtain any information he could relating to the Latimer case, no matter how doubtful the method may be. However, Connelly sees through him and mentions the pendant once again. Hardy puts on a cool face, saying he has no idea what he is referring to, but then Connelly takes another dig through him: by telling him that he has been to Broadchurch before. This is a spark of new information for the viewers. Again, an aspect of Hardy is uncovered, and the cliffs are in full view in the back as this moment occurs.

In Figure 6c, near the end of the series, Hardy is on the beach by his lonesome, reminiscing his first visit to Broadchurch. There is a flashback to him as a child, and for the viewer it feels very personal and intrusive. We are not usually granted this much access to Alec Hardy’s personal past. He is very vulnerable.

And finally, in Figure 6d, the viewer gets to know Hardy at his season one peak. He has found out who the killer is, but he wants to protect Miller from the horrid truth. He tells her to come over to the beach, where he openly talks about having been to Broadchurch before for the first time. He is honest and truthful, not cold and distant. Even Miller finds it odd. Hardy, who knows that the truth will destroy her, creates a ruse to prolong Miller’s innocence for a short while longer, and goes down to face the killer by himself. At the foot of these cliffs, which stand formidable and strong against all opposing forces, we finally get to know Hardy as who he really is—a caring and resilient detective with a strong sense of integrity.

The cliffs are Hardy—physically and structurally. It is a constant in the sense that it has and continues to tower over its surroundings, but it is not unchanging. The cliffs are dynamic and ever-adapting, showing points of strengths and weaknesses, and earning battle scars along the way. Warm brown on the outside with a steely blue-grey interior that has borne witness to plenty of action—who could we associate all that with other than our very own Alec Hardy?  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *If you follow me on Twitter and have happened to have come across my "Good Omens characters as minerals thread" you may already be familiar with pyrite as the mineral that I connected with Aziraphale. Now I've connected it with Alec Hardy as well, which just makes it even better.


	3. Struggles with Natural Hazards: The Town is Its People

**Struggles with Natural Hazards: The Town is its People**

The last portion of this essay is dedicated to a brief analogy of the town of Broadchurch to the people that live in it. This part will not go into great detail as with the previous section, nevertheless the author feels that this point is also worth noticing.

_I. Flood hazards and defenses_

Broadchurch is not just a coastal town bordered by towering cliffs. The town center itself is situated along a flat expanse in between the West and East cliffs and is traversed by a river that drains out into the sea. With this geography, the first thing that will come into a disaster scientist’s mind will be: Floodplain. Because it is indeed a floodplain—a flat expanse of land essentially part of a river’s extent during times of high-water level. Towns situated on floodplains must constantly keep their guards up against floods, whether it be from the sea or from the river. Other maps of the real town on which Broadchurch is based from show plenty of flood defense structures in the form of seawalls near the harbour and floodways near the river.

_II. Geologic time: Why safety is only an illusion_

By now, hopefully you already have an overview of the different environmental factors enacting on the town of Broadchurch. Contrary to its impression as a sleepy rural town where everything is constant and predictable, Broadchurch is in fact a hotbed of geological interaction, much like many other places in the world. The ground beneath your feet right now could be grinding itself to a neighboring plate and building up potential energy that when it finally snaps, will release a burst of shockwaves in the form of an earthquake—and that is only one example. Hoards of Earth activity take place under our noses without much of our notice and why is that? The answer, dear reader, is _geologic time._

How would you define a ‘long time’? Perhaps being stuck in traffic for three hours is considered a long time. Or living up to the age of seventy is considered a long life. Or taking up a history book to study events that occurred two hundred years ago is way too long a time for you to comprehend completely.

In geology, where history is studied on a scale of millions of years, a thousand years is a blink of an eye. To give a bit of a robust explanation, written history dating as far back as 10 thousand years ago are usually a historian’s area of expertise. Artifacts left by humans and humanoid activities up to around 30 or 100 thousand years ago are usually left to archaeologists.

Everything else in the Earth’s 4,540,000,000-year history, is under the span of geologic time.

Mountains and ocean basins take _eons_ to form, but they do form, just at a pace that is completely unnoticeable to a human’s fickle lifetime. This gives us a false sense of security, of quietude. Just because tectonic plates are not shifting right now does not mean that they won’t ever. One day it could snap, and in other cases it may have been moving at an absurdly slow rate all along. Much of the tensions among the characters of Broadchurch arise from the false sense of security that they had about living in a town that was completely safe, which made the murder of Danny Latimer all the more striking. The town of Broadchurch is the same, seemingly constant, but prone to bouts of great disaster.

The poetic quality of Broadchurch as a TV series stems from the fact that its echoes and parallels tie in very nicely, often at a depth that cannot even be fathomed by the average viewer. But therein lies the beauty of it. The show brings to the forefront the community and its residents, bearing the name of the town as its title. This is because, in this case, **the town is its people**. When Alec Hardy as a newcomer describes what he thinks of Broadchurch, this is how he says it:

> _“No, I hate it. I hate the air, I hate the sand. I hate the stupid people. I hate the way they work. I hate their bloody smiley bloody faces. I hate the never-ending sky.”_

Hardy intertwines description of the town’s natural elements with that of its people. He shifts from the air and the sand to the stupidity of its residents and the smiles on their faces, circling back to the expanse of the sky. This is because when you are in Broadchurch, you cannot separate the town from its people. They have the same core traits and face the same struggles. This is the real reason why Broadchurch has never felt much of a home to Hardy until he has gotten to know and respect the people that live in it. We know that by the time season three comes, he has become so comfortable with Broadchurch that he acquires a house by the seaside (whereas in season one he claims that he hates going into the water). And it is in this sense that the author has chosen to write down this useless piece of barely-creditable research, as one cannot appreciate the show to its maximum extent without thinking of how the town’s natural attributes masterfully tie into it.

* * *

If you made it this far, thank you so much for reading!

* * *

**References:**

Broadchurch TV show season one (obviously)

Broadchurch: The Official Novel by Erin Kelly (2014)

Study on the East Cliffs of Dorset done by Southampton University <http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/Bridport-Sands-East-Cliff.htm>

Interviews with quotes from Chris Chibnall available online:  
<http://www.david-tennant.co.uk/2013/02/chris-chibnall-inspiration-for.html>

<https://www.visit-dorset.com/ideas-and-inspiration/film-and-tv/broadchurch>

Digitized version of a map of Broadchurch as released officially in the Broadchurch novel  
<http://gavinlines.com/page_2898088.html>

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this, please consider supporting me on ko-fi! It will be much appreciated 😊 https://ko-fi.com/aziraphaleann


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